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Sunday, 29 January 2017

Religious: Vice President Osinbajo's silence on religious crisis is no longer golden, Apostle Johnson will fight for us - CAN

The
Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, has released a statement,
applauding controversial clergyman and Senior Pastor of Omega Fire
Ministries, Apostle Johnson Suleman, for being vocal in the face of the repeated killing of Christians by some herdsmen in some parts of the country.

In a
statement signed by its special assistant on media and communication to
the CAN President, Bayo Oladeji, the religious body kicked against last
Wednesday's attempted arrest of Suleman in Ekiti state, arguing that
his recent comments on the religious crisis in the country is permitted
by the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. They argue that
Suleman is entitled to Freedom of Speech.

"Apostle
Suleman has become a refugee in Ekiti state as security operatives are
said to be searching every nook and cranny of the state with a view to
arresting him. If
there is an urgent need to interrogate Apostle Suleman on any issue, it
would only have been proper to extend a formal or informal invitation
to him from the SSS rather than Gestapo approach used in the attempt to
arrest him. It should be noted that under Nigerian Laws, he is presumed
innocent until a court of law proves otherwise. Or have they extended
the proposed obnoxious law that forbids religious preaching without the
permission of the state governor down south too? Treating Ministers of
God and our members as common criminals is unacceptable to the Christian
Association of Nigeria (CAN). Enough is enough. The
last time we checked, Sections 38-41 of the 1999 Constitution (as
amended) states clearly that every Nigerian is “entitled to freedom of
thought, conscience and religion, including freedom to change his
religion or belief, and freedom (either alone or in community with
others, and in public or in private) to manifest and propagate his
religion or belief in worship, teaching, practice and observance. The
Constitution states unambiguously that ‘Every person shall be entitled
to freedom of expression, including freedom to hold opinions and to
receive and impart ideas and information without interference’. Every
person shall be entitled to assemble freely and associate with other
persons, and in particular he may form or belong to any political party,
trade union or any other association for the protection of his
interests: Every citizen of Nigeria is entitled to move freely
throughout Nigeria and to reside in any part thereof, and no citizen of
Nigeria shall be expelled from Nigeria or refused entry thereby or exit
there".

The
group called on Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, who is a Christian, to
speak against the repeated attacks on Christians, stating that his
silence on the matter is no longer golden

“It
is high time the overzealous security agencies knew that Nigeria
remains a secular state and any attempt to turn the country into a
refugee camp for Christians will not be acceptable and will be resisted
with every lawful means. We
call on the acting President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, to intervene in
all the clampdown on the Church in Nigeria after all, he is in the
office primarily to represent the interest of the Christians and his
studied silence is no longer golden"he said